Sunday, August 10, 2003

Dragonflies & Raptors

Did some dragonfly watching this afternoon, and I was able to identify several species down at the pond. There were Blue Dashers, Eastern Pondhawks, Ashy Skimmers, Black Saddlebags, Red (or were they Carolina ?) Saddlebags, and best of all, a Halloween Pennant! The pennant had orange wings with black bars, very distinctive, very butterfly-like.

It's been months since I've seen a hawk in the neighborhood, but today I saw 2; an adult Broad-winged and an adult Red-shouldered. The Red-shouldered had a grayish head (unlike California birds) and contrasting russet breast (darker than in Florida birds). At dusk a Barred Owl flew into a pine in front of my house and perched briefly in my flashlight beam. The only other birds of note today were Red-headed Woodpecker and Summer Tanager.